The recent scandal involving celebrities and other parents who paid tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to bribe SAT proctors and admissions officials in order for their children to gain entry into top U.S. colleges gained understandable international attention. Most would agree that the alleged actions of these parents crossed legal and ethical lines and resulted, for those who succeeded in gaining their child college entry, in taking admissions offers away from more worthy students.

But let’s bring it down to a micro level. Do you appropriately enable your child academically? What’s the line between helping and cheating? Or, to use more recent language, are you “over coaching” your child?

I’ll push forward my line of questioning. Consider where you stand on the following:

The number 13 is a much maligned number. Some hotels refuse to recognize a 13th floor; it is not listed as an option for guests and it is thus not recognized in the hotel elevators where you magically travel from floor 12 to floor 14. And Judas Iscariot, cited as Jesus’ betrayer, was the 13th invited guest to sit down at the Last Supper. For some the fear is very real and has a name: triskaidekaphobia.

All things considered, I will admit that I too strongly disliked the number 13. That is, until October 13, 1996, the day my daughter was born. Thankfully, however, she arrived on a Tuesday, and not a Friday... (Okay, maybe I am still a bit superstitious.) All that said, nowadays, if I had to bet on one number at a hypothetical winner-take-all game, I would bet on number 13.

A child born today in Canada has a life expectancy of 80 years or more. Other first world countries' life expectancy rates are similar. And I think most of us have family members or friends who have gone on to have rich lives into their 90s.

In light of this, I have a simple question for most kids (and their parents): “What’s the rush?”

Why is there such a sense of urgency for children to decide what they want to do for the rest of their, hopefully, long lives?

Consider being in the shoes of a 17-year-old kid when an adult asks them what they going to do with their life? Or, in other words, what they want to do for the next 70 years? As an adult, how would you respond if someone asked you today if you had the next several decades of your life all mapped out?

According to the National Centre for Education Statistics and The Association of Boarding Schools, there are over 100,000 public elementary and secondary schools in North America. There are approximately 30,000 schools classified as “private.” And, there are only 300 schools classified as “boarding schools.” In short, boarding schools represent approximately 0.25% of the schools in North America, and less than 0.1% of schools around the world. To say that boarding schools are a “niche market” is an understatement.

Furthermore, of those schools that self-identify as boarding schools, a significant number of them would have less than 20% of their student body as boarders, and many of those same schools would offer a five-days-a-week boarding program.